I just picked up the 55HX800 at my local Sony Style store in Columbus, OH. I am thrilled with it so far. Prior to looking at this set, I was debating between the Sony EX700, EX500, Sharp 810, and Samsung C8000. After spending about an hour at Sony Style with the HX800, there was no going back. The 3D content looks great, but I'm even more impressed by the 2D quality. In fairness, I'm coming from a Samsung 46A550 so this is big step up. The colors are more vibrant and the contrast is noticeably better than my sammy. My girlfriend and I are in awe of the picture right now. I've been checking out most of the Samsung's, Sharp's, and Sony's between $2K and $3.5K at Best Buy recently. In my opinion this Sony looks the best as far as 2D goes. It has some of deepest blacks I've seen on an edge lit LED. I can't really compare it to many sets over $3,500 as they are out of my price range, and I didn't look at them much. The 2D converted into 3D is just mediocre, but the native 3D content looks on par with the 3D sets I've looked at. I don't notice any flashlighting, clouding, or banding with this set so far. I haven't noticed any input lag with two games I've tried. I'll wait to pass final judgment when my girlfriend plays guitar hero on expert, as she will certainly notice. There is some noticeable glare but my TV is only about 10 feet from a sliding glass door to my balcony. I haven't calibrated it or messed with the settings too much yet. If anyone has some recommended settings then please share them. Here are a few pics.

sigprime, congrats on the purchase. Can you comment on whether or not Sony has resolved the issue of flashlighting along the edges and corners? It is especially noticeable in dark scene and in dark lighting conditions. This problem is common to edge-LED displays and I had to return 2 EX700s because I couldn't stand it. I'm wondering if the "dimming" feature helps resolve this issue. See below for example: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...9#post18738749

PQ looks great from your pictures. I'm debating between this and HX900 - and HX800 is bigger and cheaper.
Is the Sony logo backlit on this set?

The Sony logo is not backlit, unless I am missing how to turn it on. I got to look at both the HX800 and a prototype version of the 900. I was not as impressed with the 900 considering how much it cost. It was a great set, but I really wouldn't give it much of an edge picture wise. Again, this was just a prototype that I viewed, and perhaps the retail version will look a bit better. I believe you have 30 days to return the set, so try the 800 and return it for the 900 or 909 if you're unhappy. I think this is the first time I've bought a television where I'm not regretting my purchase, and wishing I had spent more for something a little nicer

sigprime, congrats on the purchase. Can you comment on whether or not Sony has resolved the issue of flashlighting along the edges and corners? It is especially noticeable in dark scene and in dark lighting conditions. This problem is common to edge-LED displays and I had to return 2 EX700s because I couldn't stand it. I'm wondering if the "dimming" feature helps resolve this issue. See below for example: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...9#post18738749

I was watching the Dark Knight, Ponyo, and playing games earlier. I haven't really noticed any flahlighting yet. I've mainly kept the dimming feature on the low setting. I'll keep an out for it, and report if I see any.

May I ask if there is a sheet of glass in front of the panel like with the Sonys that have monolithic design (e.g. HX900, NX700)? Or is the panel matte rather than glossy?

Also, I wonder if the viewing angles are ok?

The viewing angles for non 3D content is great. The 3D content viewing angles are pretty bad. You have to be close to center ,and even tilting your head too much can even throw it off a bit. I would venture that most of the 3D televisions aren't much better. The panel is glossy. I can't be sure, but I believe it is plastic. The deep black panel really made it stand out from the rest of the displays at the sony store.

The Sony logo is not backlit, unless I am missing how to turn it on. I got to look at both the HX800 and a prototype version of the 900. I was not as impressed with the 900 considering how much it cost. It was a great set, but I really wouldn't give it much of an edge picture wise. Again, this was just a prototype that I viewed, and perhaps the retail version will look a bit better. I believe you have 30 days to return the set, so try the 800 and return it for the 900 or 909 if you're unhappy. I think this is the first time I've bought a television where I'm not regretting my purchase, and wishing I had spent more for something a little nicer

Thanks! And hope you enjoy your TV for a long long time
I'll just have to go to Sonystyle and see all TVs in person before I decide which one to get - but it's great to hear that HX800 is on par with the 900 series PQ wise - even though it's not an XBR model!

I tried to take some more pics tonight, but the camera is terrible in low light. I'll try to get some more soon. To anyone concerned with input lag, rest assured there is very little from what I can tell. My girlfriend played a few Guitar Hero songs on expert. She was consistently getting 5 stars and felt no noticeable lag in game mode. She feels like there is less lag on this set in game mode than our Samsung A550 in game mode.

My girlfriend played a few Guitar Hero songs on expert. She was consistently getting 5 stars and felt no noticeable lag in game mode. She feels like there is less lag on this set in game mode than our Samsung A550 in game mode.

Sounds awesome! Hoping to see all displayed at the Houston sonystyle the week after next.

Hey, sigprime, is the screen really glossy (like the Samsungs) or semi-matte (like in the Sony EX series)? I really like the semi-matte on the older Sony Bravias, would be a shame if this was totally glossy. The semi-matte was a good compromise between matte and glossy.

I tried to take some more pics tonight, but the camera is terrible in low light. I'll try to get some more soon. To anyone concerned with input lag, rest assured there is very little from what I can tell. My girlfriend played a few Guitar Hero songs on expert. She was consistently getting 5 stars and felt no noticeable lag in game mode. She feels like there is less lag on this set in game mode than our Samsung A550 in game mode.

Any chances you can run a real input lag test as described in the input lag test thread?

Or even if it's not a perfect test, if you have a copy of Rockband 2 with the official Rockband 2 guitar, can you run the calibration test and give us the number it gives you on the video calibration test? I know what my current TV gives at that test and how much more the C650 (which had very bad input lag) gave to that test so it would at least, give me an idea until someone buy this TV and run a proper test.

Set looks great, but I'm not sure I could stomach the price premium for the 3D functionality I probably wouldn't use.

It'd be nice if Amazon would start selling these directly. At least then I'm not paying full retail from Sony.

I agree. If this TV really has low imput lag, it jumps high on my wanted list but I really don't care for 3D. I just want a tv with Great PQ when watching TV and movies and low input lag (30ms or so) when playing games. Right now I was eyeing the Sharp LE810UN but this one, because of the 3D, is 1000$ more here in Canada. The local dimming feature on it would also be another advantage over the sharp I'm looking at.

Hey, sigprime, is the screen really glossy (like the Samsungs) or semi-matte (like in the Sony EX series)? I really like the semi-matte on the older Sony Bravias, would be a shame if this was totally glossy. The semi-matte was a good compromise between matte and glossy.

Any flashlighting?

I don't think it is quite as glossy as the newer samsungs, but I would say it is certainly more glossy than my A550. I didn't notice any flashlighting at first, but after watching some soccer today I noticed some at the bottom. I have not noticed it on blu rays or games for some reason. It is very faint and by adjusting the settings I can make it almost impossible to distinguish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guibs

Any chances you can run a real input lag test as described in the input lag test thread?

Or even if it's not a perfect test, if you have a copy of Rockband 2 with the official Rockband 2 guitar, can you run the calibration test and give us the number it gives you on the video calibration test? I know what my current TV gives at that test and how much more the C650 (which had very bad input lag) gave to that test so it would at least, give me an idea until someone buy this TV and run a proper test.

I would love to run an input lag test as described in the lag test thread, but I don't have CRT monitor. I also don't have rockband 2. I know this doesn't help much ,but I ran the calibration test on Guitar Hero 5. I ran it a handful of times and consistently got 0 ms on the video calibration. My girlfriend was getting over 95% last night on hard/expert songs and 99% on normal. She swears the mistakes made were user error and not due to lag. Do you know of another way to test for lag?

I don't think it is quite as glossy as the newer samsungs, but I would say it is certainly more glossy than my A550. I didn't notice any flashlighting at first, but after watching some soccer today I noticed some at the bottom. I have not noticed it on blu rays or games for some reason. It is very faint and by adjusting the settings I can make it almost impossible to distinguish.

I would love to run an input lag test as described in the lag test thread, but I don't have CRT monitor. I also don't have rockband 2. I know this doesn't help much ,but I ran the calibration test on Guitar Hero 5. I ran it a handful of times and consistently got 0 ms on the video calibration. My girlfriend was getting over 95% last night on hard/expert songs and 99% on normal. She swears the mistakes made were user error and not due to lag. Do you know of another way to test for lag?

The only other way I know is filming you with a 60fps camera while you press a key and see how many frames it takes to see the action being perform.

How is the pq while game mode on? Would you mind taking some picture of actual games with game mode on ( beside guitar hero ) so we can get an idea?

The kdl46 hx800 runs 1k$ more than sharps 46le810un but if the pq is better and input lag is low, I might pay extra and get that tv instead.

Oh and thanks again for takingthe time to anwser our question on this tv.

The only other way I know is filming you with a 60fps camera while you press a key and see how many frames it takes to see the action being perform.

How is the pq while game mode on? Would you mind taking some picture of actual games with game mode on ( beside guitar hero ) so we can get an idea?

The kdl46 hx800 runs 1k$ more than sharps 46le810un but if the pq is better and input lag is low, I might pay extra and get that tv instead.

Oh and thanks again for takingthe time to anwser our question on this tv.

I must forewarn you that these were taken with a crummy point and shoot Nikon in low light with the flash turned on. That being said, these by no means do the tv picture justice. The tv is in game mode with local dimming turned off as well. I may be able to borrow an SLR to take some decent pics over the weekend.

Thanks again, those looks fantastic. damn, if you continue, you might cost me 1k$ that I wasn't planning on spending...

Yeah, I was in the same boat eye balling the Sharp 60 inch 810 I was trying not to spend over $2.5K on a tv, and it was a contender amongst the first wave of televisions I looked at. The color seemed a little off to me, and I hear clouding is a big issue with it. It still looks like a good television, and I'm sure it's great for gaming. I probably would have been happy with it until I saw this bad boy. It was love at first sight and the rest is history. Jeez, I really feel like I'm in the wrong line of work and should be a Sony wholesaler instead

Yeh Sigprime I am interested in the 46HX800 can you tell me if the 3D is better than Samsung or the same? If it is close to the Panny or not as good. I looked at the Sammy and the Panny and I thought the Panny was hands down the best 3D I've seen. I still have not seen a true retail Sony 3D Tv, only demo models which did not represent the final retail model at that time. I appeciate your input.

Sigprime, I'm really interested in the 40" HX800 tv and would really appreciate your take on the sound/speakers that came with the set. I do not plan on hooking this tv up to any outside stereo speakers but would totally depend on the sets original sound system. So thumbs up or down........... thanks for your time.